"fuck you, pay me" as a zero-sum game

[kaberett]

As I have previously groused about, the ebook version of The Ladies of Grace Adieu that I borrowed from my library was riddled with errors. I mentioned at the time that I'd been surprised and pleased by how rapidly Overdrive support got back to me with "we're getting in touch with the publisher".

Well, the publisher got back in touch with them, apparently, because on the 27th I received the following:

Our content team spoke with the publisher about this, and the publisher has confirmed that this title is written in the form of an old diary, so the text includes archaic spellings. What you're seeing appears to be the publisher's deliberate stylistic choice.

I can understand how the odd formatting and spelling/grammar choices in this title could be seen as an issue with title files, and again, I appreciate you reaching out.

I was sufficiently Outraged and Indignant about this that I went and bought a dead-tree copy of the book (second-hand!) so that I could write back to the effect of "the publisher is bullshitting you" WITH CITATIONS.

I grumbled about this to simont, and in the ensuing conversation we decided that the most emotionally satisfying response to this would be to buy a copy of the ebook (inevitably DRMed), strip the DRM, make all the necessary corrections, re-DRM it, and then send it to the publisher with a cheery cover letter -- on the grounds that either they could then pay me for the de-DRMed version for their own use, or it would be a sufficiently emphatic Fuck You to mollify my feelings. Clearly it's not always a zero-sum game, but in this specific instance I am really quite comfortable with balancing out "less pay" with "more fuck you".

Anyway, my second-hand copy of the book arrived in the post today (old stock from Stirling Council Libraries!), so this afternoon I sat down with it & the sample of the ebook I could get in Libby (having already returned the full book, with around a four-week wait to borrow it again), and transcribed every. single. obvious. OCR. error. in the first twenty-odd pages of the book.

Like so:

In addition to the issues I pointed out in my original e-mail (including
"amottg" for among), on a quick side-by-side skim of the physical book
and the library sample I found the following discrepancies. All page
numbers [in square brackets] refer to the 2007 paperback edition (which,
to my amusement, I have just spotted is old stock from Stirling Council
Libraries).

INTRODUCTION
[2] "and at each stage Simonelli reworked his past in order to promote his latest obsession -- whether that be ancient Sumerian history...": In the ebook, the dash is missing. (This appears to be because it's been treated as hyphenation to be stripped out.)
[3] "1808--1816": Dash is missing.
[3] "James Sutherland
Aberdeen, April 2006": The line break is absent in the ebook.

THE LADIES OF GRACE ADIEU (titular story)
[7] "From The Book of the Lady Catherine of Winchester (1209--67), translated from the Latin by Jane Tobias (1775--1819)": In this instance, the dashes are correctly rendered. However, the spacing around the paragraph has been compressed, making it a very confusing read. There should be one blank line above and two blank lines below, to differentiate the citation from the quotation and the narrative. In running text, there are no empty lines between paragraphs - this feature of the printed book is clearly intended to make it clear when the scene or perspective shifts, but is completely absent from the ebook, leading to a very disorienting and disjointed reading experience.
[8] "near the village where they lived": "they" is omitted from the ebook.
[9] "King's wild Company": Apostrophe omitted from the ebook (two instances).
[12] "While the ladies of Grace Adieu were talking [...] ["...] You have heard me speak of Mr Henry Woodhope, I think?"": Blank lines above and below omitted.
[15] ""Good afternoon, Captain Windbright," said Miss Tobias.": Blank lines below omitted.
[16] ""[...] I very much doubt if there is any one in Grace Adieu who could afford me."": Blank lines below omitted.
[18] "Upon her saying his name": In the ebook, this is rendered "LTpon her saying his name".
[18] ""perhaps you were not brought up to it."": Blank lines below omitted.
[19] "In the Rectory [...] not raising his eyes from the book.": Blank lines omitted above and below.
[20] "will tell you a story, if you ask": In the ebook, rendered "will tell you a story7, if you ask".
[23] "In the Rectory [...] he now began to rub the place.": Blank lines omitted above and below.
[24] ""why should I be afraid?"": Blank lines omitted below.

At this point the sample ends. I recall that, additionally, the dates (10th, 11th, 1811, etc - e.g. p114) throughout "Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" have very obviously undergone poor OCR - in a way that's completely understandable given the slightly unusual font shapes for numbers in Adobe Caslon, the font in which the book is set ("A note on the type", final printed page).

In compiling this list, I was also surprised to notice the poor quality of the illustrations in the ebook in comparison with the printed reproductions.

Thank you for the time you've put into this so far, and I look forward to hearing back! If it would be more appropriate, I'm happy to contact the publisher myself -- just let me know.

I even managed not to actually say "I can read SHAKESPEARE and also CHAUCER [this is a slight exaggeration], and I assure you that I am absolutely confident that the issue is not 'archaic spellings' but rather merely that the publisher is trying to get out of doing an honest day's work"! In spite of my very strong inclination.

Anyway, the customer support individual at Overdrive who's Dealing With Me has graciously and very kindly said (I paraphrase) "... good grief, is somebody Having An Autism?" [mildly entertained] and is passing my list back to the content team to be passed in turn back to the publisher. Naturally, I expect to be VINDICATED. Completely! Any day now!

Comments

[alexseanchai]

yes good

[kaberett]

<3

[watersword]

Amazing. I'm so pleased I know you.

[kaberett]

As I have just explained to A, I heroically resisted the urge to compile a second list of all the archaic spellings I wasn't drawing attention to.

[booksarelife]

That is some heroic resisting!

[adrian_turtle]

Oh, well done!

[jjhunter]

Hee. Bravo for your thoroughly excellent documentation - I too have reflexive Outrage at shoddy conversions like this, but I had not though of going through the digital platform to notify the publisher.

May this be acted on to the benefit of future readers!

[kareila]

My hero 💙

[rushthatspeaks]

THANK. YOU. Very appreciated.

[sfred]

<3 <3 <3

[rmc28]

You are a delight to know :-)

[lunabee34]

This was an utter delight to read. I eagerly await your vindication.

[silveradept]

I hope they put actual effort into proofing and cleaning up the electronic version instead of letting a shoddy machine OCR stand as somehow effective. And that they think again about trying to bullshit someone knowledgeable.

[vass]

*crackles with contact rage*

They not only use OCR to get out of paying their staff and contractors, they then fucking patronise you about it?

[kaberett]

MMHMM

Or rather, the publisher patronized me via the medium of Overdrive, who appear to be perfectly happy to believe I'm right but need a certain amount of Yell in order to hassle the publisher some more, and they don't have a trivially available copy of the print book (which I kind of wanted anyway)...

[azurelunatic]

*sends oxygen, as the publisher seems to have done a bang-up job of adding fuel*

[emperor]

I think you did well not to burn the entire publisher to the ground...

[lokifan]

You're FABULOUS

[damerell]

It is, I fear, too late now to say I have a print copy...

[kaberett]

Ha! You'd never have got it back, but hey, £3.55 isn't the end of the world :)

[zasu]

Awesome!

[booksarelife]

Wow that publisher response is full of BS, and I love that you went the “fuck you” route